As the Arctic region consists of a large Ocean surrounded by land, the Law of the Sea becomes particularly relevant in this context.
UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, is an international agreement that outlines a comprehensive regime of laws clarifying rights and responsibilities of States in regards of the use of seas and oceans, and their resources. The treaty therefore regulates issues as navigational rights, territorial sea limits, economic jurisdiction, legal status of resources on the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, passage of ships through narrow straits, conservation and management of living marine resources, protection of the marine environment, a marine research regime and, a more unique feature, a binding procedure for settlement of disputes between States.
According with art.38 (a) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, treaties, as the UNCLOS, are source of International law. Treaties are binding for signatories States and defined as the clearest expression of legal undertaking made by States. They are regulated under the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
Many have been the attempts in the past to codify the several existing rules of customary international law applicable to the seas and oceans. These attempts were undertaken by both non-governmental organizations, as the International Law Association, the Institute of International Law, and the Harvard Law School, and both by inter-governmental organizations, as the League of Nations.
When the United Nations replaced the League of Nations in 1945, a work of "progressive codification" of International Law started, which embraced also issues related, for example, with high seas and territorial waters. The first UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I) was eventually held at Geneva in 1958 and was attended by 86 States, and a second one, UNCLOS II convened in 1960. During this early phase, the major issues were the breadth of territorial sea (UNCLOS I), and fisheries limit (UNCLOS II). Eventually, a third conference, UNCLOS III was held (the first session was in 1973) and adopted a convention in 1982. Therefore, on 10th December 1982, the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea was opened for signature in Jamaica. Accordingly with UNCLOS 1982, art.305(2), "This Convention shall remain open for signature until 9 December 1984 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica and also, from 1 July 1983 until 9 December 1984, at United Nations Headquarters in New York", during which period 159 States and other entities have signed it. As art. 308(1) states "This Convention shall enter into force 12 months after the date of deposit of the sixtieth instrument of ratification or accession", which was Guyana on 16 November 1993, the treaty was due to enter into force on 16 November 1994.
Although some states -- among them the US-- have signed, but not ratified, the UNCLOS (see list below), many of the principle contained within are nevertheless applicable. That is because the Vienna Convention 1969 states that these parties (signatories but not ratified) are obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat its object and purpose unless they make clear their intentions to not proceed with ratification and, because some parts of the UNCLOS reflect pre-existing customary international law (and in the meanwhile some other parts have already passed into International law).
You can download the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982
Chronological lists of ratifications of, accessions and successions to the UNCLOS 1982
- Fiji (10 December 1982)
- Zambia (7 March 1983)
- Mexico (18 March 1983)
- Jamaica (21 March 1983)
- Namibia (18 April 1983)
- Ghana (7 June 1983)
- Bahamas (29 July 1983)
- Belize (13 August 1983)
- Egypt (26 August 1983)
- Côte d'Ivoire (26 March 1984)
- Philippines (8 May 1984)
- Gambia (22 May 1984)
- Cuba (15 August 1984)
- Senegal (25 October 1984)
- Sudan (23 January 1985)
- Saint Lucia (27 March 1985)
- Togo (16 April 1985)
- Tunisia (24 April 1985)
- Bahrain (30 May 1985)
- Iceland (21 June 1985)
- Mali (16 July 1985)
- Iraq (30 July 1985)
- Guinea (6 September 1985)
- United Republic of Tanzania (30 September 1985)
- Cameroon (19 November 1985)
- Indonesia (3 February 1986)
- Trinidad and Tobago (25 April 1986)
- Kuwait (2 May 1986)
- Nigeria (14 August 1986)
- Guinea‑Bissau (25 August 1986)
- Paraguay (26 September 1986)
- Yemen (21 July 1987)
- Cabo Verde (10 August 1987)
- Sao Tome and Principe (3 November 1987)
- Cyprus (12 December 1988)
- Brazil (22 December 1988)
- Antigua and Barbuda (2 February 1989)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (17 February 1989)
- Kenya (2 March 1989)
- Somalia (24 July 1989)
- Oman (17 August 1989)
- Botswana (2 May 1990)
- Uganda (9 November 1990)
- Angola (5 December 1990)
- Grenada (25 April 1991)
- Micronesia (Federated States of) (29 April 1991)
- Marshall Islands (9 August 1991)
- Seychelles (16 September 1991)
- Djibouti (8 October 1991)
- Dominica (24 October 1991)
- Costa Rica (21 September 1992)
- Uruguay (10 December 1992)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis (7 January 1993)
- Zimbabwe (24 February 1993)
- Malta (20 May 1993)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1 October 1993)
- Honduras (5 October 1993)
- Barbados (12 October 1993)
- Guyana (16 November 1993)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (12 January 1994)
- Comoros (21 June 1994)
- Sri Lanka (19 July 1994)
- Viet Nam (25 July 1994)
- The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (19 August 1994)
- Australia (5 October 1994)
- Germany (14 October 1994)
- Mauritius (4 November 1994)
- Singapore (17 November 1994)
- Sierra Leone (12 December 1994)
- Lebanon (5 January 1995)
- Italy (13 January 1995)
- Cook Islands (15 February 1995)
- Croatia (5 April 1995)
- Bolivia (28 April 1995)
- Slovenia (16 June 1995)
- India (29 June 1995)
- Austria (14 July 1995)
- Greece (21 July 1995)
- Tonga (2 August 1995)
- Samoa (14 August 1995)
- Jordan (27 November 1995)
- Argentina (1 December 1995)
- Nauru (23 January 1996)
- Republic of Korea (29 January 1996)
- Monaco (20 March 1996)
- Georgia (21 March 1996 )
- France (11 April 1996)
- Saudi Arabia (24 April 1996)
- Slovakia (8 May 1996)
- Bulgaria (15 May 1996)
- Myanmar (21 May 1996)
- China (7 June 1996)
- Algeria (11 June 1996)
- Japan (20 June 1996)
- Czech Republic (21 June 1996)
- Finland (21 June 1996)
- Ireland (21 June 1996)
- Norway (24 June 1996)
- Sweden (25 June 1996)
- Netherlands (28 June 1996)
- Panama (1 July 1996)
- Mauritania (17 July 1996)
- New Zealand (19 July 1996)
- Haiti (31 July 1996)
- Mongolia (13 August 1996)
- Palau (30 September 1996)
- Malaysia (14 October 1996)
- Brunei Darussalam (5 November 1996)
- Romania (17 December 1996)
- Papua New Guinea (14 January 1997)
- Spain (15 January 1997)
- Guatemala (11 February 1997)
- Pakistan (26 February 1997)
- Russian Federation (12 March 1997)
- Mozambique (13 March 1997)
- Solomon Islands (23 June 1997)
- Equatorial Guinea (21 July 1997)
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (25 July 1997)
- Chile (25 August 1997)
- Benin (16 October 1997)
- Portugal (3 November 1997)
- South Africa (23 December 1997)
- Gabon (11 March 1998)
- European Union (1 April 1998)
- Lao People's Democratic Republic (5 June 1998)
- Suriname (9 July 1998)
- Nepal (2 November 1998)
- Belgium (13 November 1998)
- Poland (13 November 1998)
- Ukraine (26 July 1999)
- Vanuatu (10 August 1999)
- Nicaragua (3 May 2000)
- Maldives (7 September 2000)
- Luxembourg (5 October 2000)
- Serbia (12 March 2001)
- Bangladesh (27 July 2001)
- Madagascar (22 August 2001)
- Hungary (5 February 2002)
- Armenia (9 December 2002)
- Qatar (9 December 2002)
- Tuvalu (9 December 2002)
- Kiribati (24 February 2003)
- Albania (23 June 2003)
- Canada (7 November 2003)
- Lithuania (12 November 2003)
- Denmark (16 November 2004)
- Latvia (23 December 2004)
- Burkina Faso (25 January 2005)
- Estonia (26 August 2005)
- Belarus (30 August 2006)
- Niue (11 October 2006)
- Montenegro (23 October 2006)
- Republic of Moldova (6 February 2007)
- Morocco (31 May 2007)
- Lesotho (31 May 2007)
- Congo (9 July 2008)
- Liberia (25 September 2008)
- Switzerland (1 May 2009)
- Dominican Republic (10 July 2009)
- Chad (14 August 2009)
- Malawi (28 September 2010)
- Thailand (15 May 2011 )
- Ecuador (24 September 2012)
- Swaziland (24 September 2012)
- Timor-Leste (8 January 2013)
- Niger (7 August 2013)
- State of Palestine (2 January 2015)
